Hybrid simulation results for the magnetospheric transit of MESSENGER on 01 July 2011 (D182) for the IMF conditions (top panels) before the inbound and (bottom panels) after the outbound bow shock crossings. Panels a and b: magnitude of the magnetic field in logarithmic scale. Panels c and d: electric current densities calculated from the general Ampère’s law moving along the y-axis, J_y, perpendicular to the plane shown here. Panels e and f: plasma density in logarithmic scale and normalized to the upstream solar wind density, n_sw = 30 cm⁻³. Panels g and h: magnitude of the solar wind velocity normalized to the upstream solar wind velocity, |u_sw | ≈ 385 km s⁻¹. All the panels are cuts in the midnight meridian plane (xz-plane at y = 0), viewed from the orbital motion of Mercury (i.e. the -y axis). The rest of the figure format is the same as that shown in Fig. 3.